Monday, 19 September 2011

The Jewish Museum, Camden – try something a bit different

It might not be your first choice but head off the beaten museum track and step away from those Elgin marbles in the British Museum and you'll have a lot more room to breathe while taking in some amazing objects and hearing incredible stories. One example is the Jewish Museum.

This small museum on Albert Street, Camden (North London) is a must for any Jewish people coming to London or anyone else with an interest in Jewish culture and heritage. It's a bit of a hidden gem and although there are some old fashioned elements in the style of old artefacts crammed into cases in a dark room, they are giving it a bit of a refurb and there is lots here that will delight you.

Like the medieval mikveh - a bath that is used by Jewish women after periods and births and in conversion ceremonies - and the exhibition on immigration that draws parallels with how papers like The Sun talk about Eastern Europeans with how Jews were treated in past centuries in Britain. At the moment there is also an exhibition on the top floor called Entertaining the Nation, the admission to which is included in your £7.50 ticket price. On the ground floor, there is video footage of people's stories, a gift shop and a cafe.